In Focus: Former political prisoner Ebenezer Akwanga speaks on independence struggle in Southern CameroonsIBTimes UK

IBTimes UK spoke with human rights activist and former political prisoner Ebenezer Akwanga on the struggle for independence in Southern Cameroons. He is the president of the Southern Cameroons Youth League and, in 1997, he was imprisoned and tortured in Cameroon for six years due to his political activism.

After leaving his homeland in 2003, he filed a petition against Cameroon for multiple human rights violations. In 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Committee found Cameroon had breached several Civil and Political Rights during Akwanga's detention. However, he has not received any compensation yet.

Southern Cameroons joined the Republic of Cameroon in 1961.Wikimedia Commons

Southern Cameroons

Southern Cameroons was the southern part of the British Mandate territory of Cameroons during the colonisation.

In 1961, people of Cameroon voted whether to join Nigeria or the Republic of Cameroon, which had already obtained independence from Britain and France one year earlier.